10 Things You Should Know Before Marrying One of My Kids By: Scott Bahnson Prologue It is early into 2014, in fact, just 7 days into the New Year. I would suspect neither of my kids will even be engaged by the time this book "goes to press". But one can never guess when it comes to love and commitment. Charlie, my son, is 21 days short of 19. My daughter, Maggie, is not yet 15. I would think this gives me between 5 and 10 years to complete the book. Today this is simply a Blog. It is just a glimpse of what will become a book. (A book that I plan to wrap and give to whomever my son or daughter marry, the very day they announce their respective engagements). That day will be filled with excitement and the intent of this book is simply to confirm my expectations as your soon to be Father-in-Law and to have you be truly excited about joining our family. If you are in disagreement with any Chapter, my wish is to chat about it in person sometime throughout the engagement period and surely Charlie or Maggie will be invited as well. You will notice that I have not included my wife Nancy as a major part of my writings throughout the Chapters. This is somewhat intentional. Yes, she will have a pre-read of my works before it goes to final editing. But she may have differing opinions along the way and this would only lengthen the project. Besides, I am the author of this book and we do think alike on most of these topics and do respect each other's opinions. I truly believe that you will get to know me quite well and that is also part of my intention. I communicate best in writing. Nancy communicates best by mouth. Welcome to our family. I am most pleased you will soon be a part of it. Here is a brief glimpse into my book that is officially underway. Chapter 1. Christmas Christmas has always been my favorite time of year. A time that family should make every effort to be together. Keep in mind you are now most likely just a handful of months from officially becoming part of our family. While the ultimate prize is to see you both every single Christmas... I understand that may not be reality. We realize you have family too and that you may find yourselves living in a different part of the country. But you would sure make Nancy and I happy by being with us at a minimum, every other year. Please make plans and budget your time for this important day. We will make it worth your while. We have been fortunate as we have lived in a city where both of our parents currently live. A key to our happy 20 years of marriage is that we were impartial and spent time with both sets of parents every year on Christmas. Trust me when I tell you, that being fair on this special day is essential at least to our side of the family. So what makes Christmas so special? It's Jesus birthday. Church, music and choir concerts. Cookies and putting up the Christmas tree and snow. A time to reflect on the year that is about to pass. Thankfulness and giving. Being blessed! All reasons to surround ourselves with family. Let's make it a tradition. Chapter 2. Foundation Church has always played a major part of our family #life. Nancy grew up Catholic. I grew up Lutheran. I was willing to try the Catholic Church. And over time Nancy was willing to try the Lutheran Church. Because of our kids we ended up at Mount Olivet Church. Our kids' closest friends have come from this church. Their favorite place on this earth is Cathedral of the Pines up in Lutsen, Minnesota. Our family has been to the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Las Vegas, Arizona and even Mexico but Lutsen is perhaps our favorite place to go as a family on vacation. It happens to be the least expensive of all of our travels as well the coldest, yet a place that is hard to beat and ranks at the top because of our family memories there. Let's make it a tradition to spend time up North. Family...we are a humble one. We've struggled and we've succeeded, laughed and cried together. Like most families we would do anythingfor each other. We believe in one another. Let's make it a tradition.